Sunday, February 1, 2015

Hive 7 February Tutorial


I decided that as Queen Bee for Hive 7 for February, I would be repeating a block that I requested last year.  It'll be nice to have more, in order to make a bigger top! 

I got the idea for this when I was fiddling around on Pinterest and saw this quilt.  The artist calls it Ribbon Lattice. I really, really like that quilt.  Then back in 2013 there was a month in Stash Bee where the block we did was called Simply Woven (a Moda Bakeshop Pattern).   Here are the Simply Woven blocks I made for Stash Bee:




So here goes with the block I'd like you to make:

Update - February 2:  I would love to offer to send white fabric to those of you who don't have it - but I have NO idea who you are.  We have an address list that includes your email address, but your google nicknames are not on it.  Please contact me if you'd like me to mail you some white fabric.

Please use  a SOLID WHITE background, that's truly white. Examples would be Kona White or Bella, but just make sure it's not cream, or even a light cream. For the strings, use bright colors, but no black. Try brights like purple, teal, yellow, orange, fuschia, lime, etc.  Don't use what could be called "Civil War" or pale pastels.

I figured I could follow the steps in the Simply Woven tutorial but use 1" strips, and come up with a block to my liking.  So here we go, and I'll call this Woven Strings.

You'll need one 9" square of background fabric, and 6 to 8 "strings" that are 1" wide and between 10" and 12" long.

1. Make a freehand slightly curved cut about 1 1/2 - 2" from the left side.

2. Add one of your strings. Press towards the dark.

3. Turn the square so that the first string is horizontally across the top. Make another cut - either slightly curved or straight. Try to mix them up.

4. Insert another strip.

5. Turn the fabric again so that the most recent string is at the bottom as shown.  Make another cut.

6. Insert another strip.

7. Keep going - you can make the strings closer together if you wish, to get 4 strings across instead of 3.

8. Keep going!

9. Another one!

10. (I cut before I took the photo...)

11. More...

12. Looks like I have room for yet another string.

13. So make another cut.

14. While this is the last one I inserted for this block, it's possible that you've cut yours close enough together that you can do four across and four down. I'd like any combination - 3 + 3, 3 + 4, or 4 + 4. 

15. Please do not trim the blocks - I'll trim them to the size I want when I get them.
So as part of the bit about asking a question, I'd like to announce that we're moving in early March to Bishop, California. My husband is a fly fisherman, and Bishop is the gateway to the Eastern Sierras, where he'll have so many streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds to fish that he will never be able to fish them all. Our house will be 10 minutes from the Owens River, where he can fish year round. We'll be directly across the street from the community center where the local quilt guild meets, and there's a great quilt shop in town for me to feed my habit. This is our dream come true. So my questions for you are: Where would you live if you could move right now? Why?

6 comments:

Granny Maud's Girl said...

What fun! I think I have the basics - white, white, white square 9 inches (it looks a bit like 19 inches, but I am sure that is not right) and 1-inch bright, bright, bright strings. Don't trim; send them untrimmed.

Mary Huey said...

Got it!! Off to the studio!!

dq said...

I have fabrics picked but I will have to wait until I can get to a fabric store for solid white. I have solid white but it is a tiny bit off instead of pure white.
This looks like a happy block that will become a happy quilt.

Rozsamaria - Habibihomemade said...

I'll be off to the store, too - I have white on white prints but no solid whites fabric. :)

Cyndi said...

I'm sorry about the request for the white - I assumed that everyone has it just because I do. I'll be glad to send some in the mail. I'll contact you privately to see.

dq said...

Cyndi,

I was sewing along and could not figure out why you said the strips only needed to be 10-12" long. Well, I just realized that you said to cut (one) 9" square. I cut a 19" square because the 1 was next to the 9. You might want to fix that in your instructions before someone else does it too. Anyway, you will be getting one very large block from me but it will still have enough strings to fit your size.